French premier stands firm amid unrest / Crisis for de Villepin's government as at least a million demonstrators protest job law

Elizabeth Bryant, Chronicle Foreign Service

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Photo: MICHEL EULER

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Police use their water canon on youths during a protest against the first job contract law, known as CPE, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 in Paris. Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto France's streets and striking workers hobbled transport services Tuesday, increasing pressure on embattled Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw a contested new jobs contract for youths. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) less

Police use their water canon on youths during a protest against the first job contract law, known as CPE, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 in Paris. Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto France's streets and ... more

Photo: MICHEL EULER

French premier stands firm amid unrest / Crisis for de Villepin's government as at least a million demonstrators protest job law

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2006-03-29 04:00:00 PDT Paris -- As massive demonstrations and a national strike crippled France on Tuesday, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin held firm on an unpopular job law that has morphed into a political crisis for his conservative government.

Chanting slogans and brandishing banners, at least a million protesters spilled into the streets of Paris and other French cities, denouncing the new "first employment contract" law that makes it easier to hire -- and fire -- young workers. The demonstrations drew support from high school and college students, job-seekers, retirees and union workers in festive marches augmented by hot dog vendors and curious bystanders. The clothes of many protesters were plastered with yellow and white stickers calling on the government to repeal the CPE -- popular French shorthand for the new job law.

Strikes disrupted transportation services across the country, and a number of teachers and private sector employees joined the walkouts. The Eiffel Tower was closed for fear of violence, and the U.S. State Department warned Americans in France to be wary of city crowds.

Late Tuesday, scattered violence erupted in Paris after an otherwise peaceful day. Riot police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds of youths pelting them with stones and bottles. Police made 787 arrests around the country -- 488 of them in Paris, National Police Chief Michel Gaudin told the Associated Press. Nearly 50 protesters and nine police officers were injured in the capital.

Police said about 1 million people took part in about 250 protests nationwide, including 92,000 marchers in Paris, according to media reports, while the organizers gave totals closer to 3 million, with 700,000 at the Paris march.

Even as he issued fresh calls Tuesday for political dialogue -- rejected outright by student and labor unions -- de Villepin showed no signs of backing down. "The Republic is not about preconditions," he told France's National Assembly, "it's not about ultimatums."

But already, some observers speculate that nearly three weeks of university blockades and unrest are likely to force the prime minister to change course. "I think we're heading toward some sort of compromise that won't be ideal, but will allow both sides to retain something," predicted Jerome Fourquet, studies director at the IFOP polling agency in Paris. "But in the end, the law will be substantially changed."

De Villepin, who bulldozed the jobs law through parliament earlier this month, argues that looser hiring restrictions will reduce youth unemployment, now at an alarming 23 percent. The law allows businesses to fire young, first-time workers for no reason during their first two years of employment, but critics argue it simply increases job insecurity without solving the unemployment crisis.

Recent polls show that a solid majority of French of all ages oppose the legislation in its current form -- a sentiment echoed among the packed and boisterous crowd that on Tuesday marched through Paris.

"I've held precarious jobs for the last 20 years," said 40-year-old educator Hishem Larach. "I don't want my children to end up with the same problems."

Nearby, 43-year-old Collette Le Callou leveled similar criticism. "I don't have a solution for our economic problems, " said Le Callou, an unemployed mother of three. "But if I were in de Villepin's shoes, I would have resigned a long time ago."

At Paris 13, a university located in the grim suburb of Villetaneuse, banners denouncing the jobs law draped the cavernous campus center, along with flyers promoting Tuesday's strikes.

"The government is going to have to repeal the law," predicted 20-year-old engineering student Abdoulaye Cisse, "because the students are not going to stop demonstrating."

Protesting students have blockaded and shuttered dozens of high schools and universities around the country, but Paris 13 remains open. Most students attending this public university come from immigrant, working-class backgrounds, said its president, Alain Neuman.

Fear of the future appears to be the leitmotif in France these days, particularly among the young. Yet critics argue France cannot afford to keep generous social benefits and remain competitive.

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"We have privileges in our society we can't afford any more," said Julien Gomez, a history professor at Paris 13, who admits he is in the minority on campus to support the jobs contract. "Having a job for life is a privilege. People need to realize they have responsibilities."

The protests are only the latest bout of popular unrest sweeping the country. Last fall, largely ethnic immigrant youths clashed with police in working-class suburbs across France.

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